Near-Space Flight

Every week, ESRL sends balloons up to 100,000 feet into the
atmosphere bearing ozone and water vapor instruments. The balloon borne
instruments, released from several sites around the world, create
long-term records of the concentrations and distributions of the two
gases, which are important in terms of climate and Earth’s protective
ozone layer.

On one flight from Boulder, CO this fall, engineers Allen Jordan and
Emrys Hall (Global Monitoring Division) added a lightweight digital
camera to the package. The stunning photographs captured the
curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space.

“We weren’t sure what we would learn,” Hall admitted, “but in some
of the images, you can see smoke from a controlled burn.” The smoke
might help researchers better understand the ozone and water data,
likely affected by the fire.

The experience of adding the camera to the flight package may also
help ESRL engineers better integrate a new instrument they’re hoping
to begin flying regularly, soon: an Aethalometer, which measures the
amount of black carbon in the atmosphere. Black carbon particles are
air pollutants and also contribute to atmospheric warming.